Peak fat oxidation is positively associated with vastus lateralis CD36 content, fed-state exercise fat oxidation, and endurance performance in trained males

Purpose: Whole-body fat oxidation during exercise can be measured non-invasively during athlete profiling. Gaps in understanding exist in the relationships between fat oxidation during incremental fasted exercise and skeletal muscle parameters, endurance performance, and fat oxidation during prolonged fed-state exercise.

Methods: Seventeen endurance-trained males underwent a (i) fasted, incremental cycling test to assess peak whole-body fat oxidation (PFO), (ii) resting vastus lateralis microbiopsy, and (iii) 30-min maximal-effort cycling time-trial preceded by 2-h of fed-state moderate-intensity cycling to assess endurance performance and fed-state metabolism on separate occasions within one week.

Results: PFO (0.58 ± 0.28 g^.min⁻¹) was associated with vastus lateralis citrate synthase activity (69.2 ± 26.0 μmol^.min^−1.g⁻¹ muscle protein, r = 0.84, 95% CI 0.58, 0.95, P < 0.001), CD36 abundance (16.8 ± 12.6 μg^.g⁻¹ muscle protein, r_s = 0.68, 95% CI 0.31, 1.10, P = 0.01), pre-loaded 30-min time-trial performance (251 ± 51 W, r = 0.76, 95% CI 0.40, 0.91, P = 0.001; 3.2 ± 0.6 W^.kg⁻¹, r = 0.62, 95% CI 0.16, 0.86, P = 0.01), and fat oxidation during prolonged fed-state cycling (r = 0.83, 95% CI 0.57, 0.94, P < 0.001). Addition of PFO to a traditional model of endurance (peak oxygen uptake, power at 4 mmol^.L⁻¹ blood lactate concentration, and gross efficiency) explained an additional ~ 2.6% of variation in 30-min time-trial performance (adjusted R² = 0.903 vs. 0.877).

Conclusion: These associations suggest non-invasive measures of whole-body fat oxidation during exercise may be useful in the physiological profiling of endurance athletes.